All posts in category CES 2016

This year at the CES, most of talks were around drones, wearable, VR headsets and TV. All said the CES was an evolution than revolution.
One common thread that mattered across the event was the use of data and how best to utilise these for marketers. Most importantly use these for driving a valuable brand experiences.

Wearable:- Considering the valuable data that can be generated through these, Fitbit announced its Blaze wearable, Fossil is getting into the wearable and connected device market by announcing 100+ new products/ launches. Around the health and fitness were Huawei’s Honor Band Z1 which helps track fitness, perform tasks like counting yours sleeping hours, record of how one sleeps etc.
All these mean that brand have an opportunity to target users in new ways. Fitness, sleep, eating habits all generate valuable data that can be used to market relevant one- on- one advertising and content. Exploring partnership opportunities is a way to go and ensure delivery of products that are complimentary to health and fitness.

Cars and IoT:– Cars will be an important platform with many hi tech cars getting released. VW had the concept cars- e- Golf Touch that lets you know what’s in your fridge. BMW had a similar technology which lets you control things like lighting, heating and appliances by staying in the car.
Toyota had a similar announcement with a foray into AI that will enable cars to communicate without human interactions. For a marketer this means that like any other media, brands can tailor ads and provide experiences. Finding a nearby store, delivering a in the moment message. Voice search will become important and brand need to understand how consumers are likely to use voice search and refine brand experiences to improve conveniences within voice search.

Connected Home:– A wealth of new smart, connected household devices were on display at the CES. Samsung had a family bridge and Whirlpool’s new Smart washers and Dryer lets to integrate Amazon Dash functionality to enable easy restocking.
Home is now being identified s a new battleground and data collected through these will be very valuable. But the journey doesn’t look easy as this is a very competitive Google and its Nest program is in direct competition with Amazon and its Alexa platform. The biggest announcement was obviously the announcement of Netflix, which is adding 130 countries to its list. It’s a huge step in the Internet TV services.
Treasures of advertising and content opportunities exist for brands. A smart fridge can send direct reminders to your phone if it senses that the food has been spoiled, food is over etc. Added to this when you connect everything in the house imagine the data and opportunity to deliver one- to-one messages across the ecosystem based on the IoT data.
Combining the data created at home and the automotive will only increase and make this space more competition.

VR and AR, the darling of CES:– For marketers the opportunity that exist through gaming and utility apps and creative advertising is ony getting bigger. What interesting is that both AR and VR have now become cheaper and more accessible.
Oculus- owned by Facebook announces that consumers will be able to order the Rift handset at less than $600. Gramin has a similar AR display which lets cyclists mount in their sunglass providing performance endurance information and directions. Hyundai developed a similar app called the Virtual Guide, which enables the users to use the phones to perform basic maintenance.
VR shopping experience is going to redefine path to purchase by creating more intuitive online shopping experiences and reduce length of shopping.
Brands should look to explore integrating VR and AR into their experiences and marketing strategy to create more realistic and engaging experiences to help improve the consideration phase of customers.
Creating immersive experiences on the go is what marketers can leverage by crating VR content and advertising.